A Buggy Thanksgiving: Photos

A Thanksgiving Day meal with intentional insect ingredients is hardly the norm for most Americans, but it could be our future due to the cost, nutritional and environmental benefits of edible bugs. Such dishes already are on the menu at the Audubon Butterfly Garden Insectarium in New Orleans, with its "Bug Appétit" daily cooking shows and samples.

"We certainly don't serve anything other than terrific food in New Orleans -- haven’t you heard?" asked Zack Lemann, animal and visitor programs manager at Audubon. "And we like upholding our city's reputation as an outstanding food town. So even though insects may seem odd, you can bet that ours will be tasty."

Audubon Images

Turkey With Extra Insect Protein

The right edible insect can provide an incredible protein punch. For example, Lemann said that house crickets, per 100 grams, contain about 13 grams of protein and 5 grams each of carbohydrate and fat.

"This is actually a very good nutritional balance for humans," he told Discovery News, adding that roasted crickets taste a lot like sunflower seeds. "So a diet that includes a lot of these insects would by yummy and healthy."

Audubon Images

Turkey With Bug Dressing

The Insectarium recipe for turkey stuffing includes a half-cup of mealworms per cup of stuffing. They are boiled for 10-15 minutes with, if desired, a seasoning blend for extra spice kick. After straining, they are mixed into the stuffing.

Lemann and his team get their edible insects from a few different "farms" in the United States that otherwise supply to the zoo industry and the pet trade. As small creatures, insects can absorb pollutants, so harvesting them on your own is not advisable.

Audubon Images

Wax Worm Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is on virtually all Thanksgiving Day tables. "I'm certain your old stand-by, maybe handed down from grandma, is superb," Lemann said, "but wouldn't it be even more wonderful with poached wax worms added?"

He first poaches the wax worms in hot -- not quite boiling water -- for about 3 minutes. One-half cup of insects per cup of the regular cranberry sauce mixture "should provide a good ratio so you can see and taste the bugs."

Audubon Images

Pumpkin Pie With Crickets

Pecan and pumpkin pie can be "nuttier by adding roasted house crickets," Lemann shared. "Use enough crickets to mostly cover a standard sized baking tray and cook them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes."

When baked or roasted, the crickets become crunchy and retain their sunflower seed taste. "They make dessert hoppin' good."

Audubon Images

Chocolate Chirp Cookies

Like all food ingredients, edible insects aren't just for holiday-time consumption.

Even diners who have tried every food imaginable probably have not sampled a dish of dragonflies and mushrooms.

"Fried dragonflies taste like soft shell crab and are just fabulous," Lemann said. "We like to collect wild specimens when we can. It's definitely a specialty dish. After we fry them they go atop a sautéed mushroom slice with a small dollop of Dijon-soy butter. Outstanding!"

Audubon Images

Insect Hors D'Oeuvres

A University of Amsterdam study looked at how motivated people are to eat more environmentally friendly proteins. The study included a snack made out of locusts, along with foods containing lentils, seaweed and a "hybrid meat" that was part meat and part meat substitute.

"In answering the question which snack they would least like to taste, most participants chose the snack made from insects," the study reported. The hybrid meat item struck test subjects as being more palatable.

Audubon Images

Ants and Crackers

Early humans likely ate a lot of insects. While certain Latin, African and other cultures have no problem with such foods today, many people clearly are put off by the idea.

Lemann points out that crustaceans (shrimp, crab, lobster...) are acceptable on menus, and yet each of these creatures is "basically just a bug that lives in the water. For that matter, we eat some mammals (cattle and swine, for example) and not others. Explanations can be hard to come by for these varying choices and practices."

Audubon Images

Cricket Gumbo

Crickets seem to be tasty good eats, for animals and willing humans, but not all insect species are edible.

A general rule of warning is when an insect displays patterns of red, orange, yellow or white spots/bands on black. These usually are visual signals meaning "I taste bad" or "I will sting you," Lemann said.

"Camouflage insects are trying to hide from vertebrates that want to eat them because, in many instances, they taste good,” he said. "Second if you look at cultures around the world that eat insects, you'll see that generally 'on the menu' are many types of grasshoppers and their kin, caterpillars and beetle larvae."

Audubon Images

Hearty Cricket Winter Soup

"'Going green' includes embracing agricultural practices that are more environmentally friendly, and rearing insects for human consumption as opposed to cattle, for example, fits the bill," Lemann said. "Insects convert plant matter into edible table 'meat' at a rate of efficiency 10 times better than cows."

Audubon Images

Thanksgiving Day Dishes

"The U.S. is, more and more, seeing insect fairs that include bug tasting," Lemann said. "And you can also find a marked increase in restaurants that offer insect dishes. Who would have thought, 30 years ago, that you could find raw fish at restaurants in Arizona and Iowa in such numbers as we see today? But sushi is everywhere, right? Maybe insects will take off in similar fashion."